# How Come Cigars Don't Cause Tongue Bite?



## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Folks,
Just wondering why only pipesmoking causes tongue bite? I've been smoking stogies for 20 years and have never experienced anything remotely like tongue bite even though I've herfed-away many-a-times. I know that the stems will funnel the smoke but cigars are just tubes to launch smoke into your mouth... and usually at higher volume? 

High steam content? Aren't cigar tobaccos kept at higher humidity % than pipe tobacco?

I'm not getting it.


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

My guess would be toward the finish they get too sloppy, wet to allow good flow of smoke where as a pipe concentrates all the smoke through a 3-4mm sized hole aimed right at your tongue


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## Contrabass Bry (May 3, 2010)

Tongue bite is generally aquired when smoking Virginia tobaccos with their high sugar/alkaline content. I don't reckon there are many Virginia laden cigars...

There is another tongue lashing it can take when it gets burned with steam, but that is a different matter that could be confused with tongue bite.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Smoke 3 in a row and that will change your mind about tongue bite. Mine feels like a razor strap on a barbers chair this afternoon.


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Cigary said:


> Smoke 3 in a row and that will change your mind about tongue bite. Mine feels like a razor strap on a barbers chair this afternoon.


Been there done that, no tongue bite.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

CWL said:


> Been there done that, no tongue bite.


Tongue condom per chance? :fear:


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## Diodon nepheligina (Nov 5, 2009)

In addition to what Mad Hatter said, I will offer a rather post-hoc extension to that argument. Consider how and where you hold a cigar in your mouth vs. a pipe stem. 

When drawing on a cigar, the mouth is often pursed in an "o" shape around the cigar and the tongue drops down to the bottom of the mouth as the smoke is drawn in. While you may very well draw in more smoke, it travels over the top of the tongue to the back of the mouth.

In contrast, I don't think that most pipe smokers draw on their pipes in this fashion, at least most of the time. I would guess that most pipers tend to clench the pipe between their teeth, off center at approximately the position of the canine teeth. At least that is where I do, and that is why my pipe bits get dented up and marked by my canines. Positioned in this way, smoke is drawn in directly against the side of the tongue, rather than over the top of it. 

The usual ideas of hot or hotter smoke and steam from wetter baccy end up being the tongue bite culprit when this concentrated stream of smoke continues to be drawn in and contact the same region or spot on the tongue over and over.

It would be a rather simple, if awkward, experiment to test these notions. Take a known tongue biting pipe tobacco and keep the pipe stem centered in the mouth and smoke it like a cigar. Then take a cigar, keep it clenched off center in the mouth and smoke it like a pipe.

Anyone up for being a test subject??:nerd:


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## commonsenseman (Apr 18, 2008)

I always thought it was because pipe tobacco is more raw, as in there's nothing between you & the burning tobacco. Whereas a cigar has a long tube of tobacco (works as a filter of sorts) to pass through before it reaches your tongue. I think that's why pipe filters are rumored to reduce tongue bite. Plus most pipe smokers draw more frequently than cigar smokers. That's why it's so hard to make the transition from cigars to pipes, they're more difficult to keep lit. The solution, against all "common sense", is not to puff harder. That's why my tongue was medium-rare for the first few months of pipe smoking.

I may just be blowing smoke here though.........:dizzy:


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## Matt1951 (Apr 25, 2010)

When I was smoking a pipe last year, I found Boswell's house blends in Chambersburg PA largely eliminated the problem. Smoothest pipe tobacco I have found, and only $2.50 per ounce. boswellpipes.com. 

Short filler cigars definitely cause 'burnt tongue'.


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## Diodon nepheligina (Nov 5, 2009)

Commonsenseman may be onto something. Every cigar I've ever tried to smoke to the nub has started biting my tongue inside that last inch or so.


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## indigosmoke (Sep 1, 2009)

Diodon nepheligina said:


> Positioned in this way, smoke is drawn in directly against the side of the tongue, rather than over the top of it.


I believe the Peterson p-lip stem was designed to direct the smoke away from the tongue for exactly this reason. I've never smoked one (my Pete is a fishtail) so I can't comment on it's effectiveness.


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Interesting observations,

I can see how the tobacco tube of a cigar filters the heat & steam & baccy, plus the observation that the cigar butt gets sopping wet with saliva. 

Pipe tobacco really doesn't get filtered in any way like that. My tongue bite tends to be more steam-related than chemical burn nowadays (I'm smokin' better stuff) so I have noticed that it does decrease somewhat if I smoke the pipe like a cigar.

Since I just received a box of Trinidad Maduro Belicosos and Carlos Torano Signatures, I'll be making observations about cigars v. pipes this weekend!

Thanks guys!


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## d_day (Aug 24, 2008)

Suck on a cigar too fast and your tongue will not be happy. Guaranteed.


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## nate560 (Nov 13, 2008)

Cigars can burn if you smoke them to fast they get hot. And it all depends on where you hold it in your mouth. I've been burned in the past.


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## Mante (Dec 25, 2009)

Re: How Come Cigars Don't Cause Tongue Bite? Ah, but they do. I have to bite my tongue quite often while Puffing. LOL.:mischief::tape:


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## Scott W. (Jul 10, 2008)

Cigary said:


> Smoke 3 in a row and that will change your mind about tongue bite. Mine feels like a razor strap on a barbers chair this afternoon.


Maybe you ate a bad clam?


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## juni (Oct 16, 2009)

This happened yesterday when trying out Ashtons Gold Rush:

Mayor tonguebite, it felt like my tongue and mouth was on fire. So I put the pipe aside for an hour and ran a pipecleaner through the stem.

When I picked up the pipe again and lit it all bitiness was gone! The tobacco must have dried just right.

My theory is that too wet tobacco causes tongue bite, it gives steam mixed with tobacco juices.
Wet tobacco burns hotter giving an unpleasantly hot smoke.


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## Griz (May 10, 2009)

Gentlemen,

This is an excellent candidate for a government study! We'll get several hundred pounds of tobacco, all different kinds of pipes types, shapes, and sizes and smoke, smoke, smoke.

Then we'll do cigars. Big cigars, little cigars, and... and I know nothing about cigars so we'll just get a bunch of them, and smoke them too.

Now we just need volunteers. Any takers?

Side note: To answer the post. Sorry, good question, but I don't know.


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## GreatBonsai (Jun 30, 2008)

Griz said:


> Gentlemen,
> 
> This is an excellent candidate for a government study! We'll get several hundred pounds of tobacco, all different kinds of pipes types, shapes, and sizes and smoke, smoke, smoke.
> 
> ...


I'm in, if it's all in the name of government funded science of course...


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

indigosmoke said:


> I believe the Peterson p-lip stem was designed to direct the smoke away from the tongue for exactly this reason. I've never smoked one (my Pete is a fishtail) so I can't comment on it's effectiveness.


My P-Lip does do it's job well - only problem is if you smoke too fast (or just with a bitey tobacco) you get roof of the mouth bite.


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## ADRUNKK (Aug 16, 2016)

I know this is a necro but I wanted to open this back up for debate and see if any one else has had an experience like mine.

So, we had a going away party for a buddy at my house this Saturday. A lot of people showed up bright and early and it turned out to be very long day of drinking beers, bbqing, smoking cigars, and bs'n. I honestly don't know exactly how many cigars i smoked but it was a lot. My best guess is between 6 to 10 sticks. 

When i woke up Sunday morning I couldn't eat or drink anything without my mouth feeling like it was on fire. I'm talking my whole mouth, the roof of my mouth, the top and bottom of my tongue, and even that sensitive area under my tongue. If I took a couple gulps of water my mouth felt like I had hives all over the inside and it burned for 20-30 minutes before the pain would subside. If I ate one or two bites of food I would get the same reaction.

Monday things we're a little bit better. I could actually drink water and rehydrate myself towards the later half of the day but after a couple gulps of water the burn would only last for a couple minutes and it was the same way with food.

Today I can actually eat and drink without excruciating pain but my mouth is still very sore and tender.

So I was talking about this to a buddy who's a pipe smoker and he informed me of tongue bite. I've never heard of this before so I Googled it and came to this topic and wanted to bring it back up for debate. This thread is over 6 years old and I cant imagine I'm the only a-hole that decided to smoke way to many cigars in a short period of time. So my question is has anyone else gotten this from smoking to many cigars?

Sorry again about the necro but I didn't want to start a new thread if there was already a discussion regarding my topic, even if most of these members are probably no longer around.


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

Not sure your "whole mouth" reaction to smoking so many cigars is quite the same thing as classic pipe-smoker's tongue bite. Sounds more like nicotine burn.


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## ADRUNKK (Aug 16, 2016)

curmudgeonista said:


> Not sure your "whole mouth" reaction to smoking so many cigars is quite the same thing as classic pipe-smoker's tongue bite. Sounds more like nicotine burn.


I've never heard of nicotine burn before, thanks for the reply. Man I didn't think smoking that many cigars would cause that much pain; but i learned from my gluttonous way and there will be no more 6-10 cigar days for me. I'll stop at 5.


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## greenmonster714 (Jun 9, 2016)

While on vacation i sat on the beach all day drinking beer n puffin sticks. Thought my tongue was gonna call off the next days. All worth it and yes I'd do it again..lol.


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## ADRUNKK (Aug 16, 2016)

greenmonster714 said:


> While on vacation i sat on the beach all day drinking beer n puffin sticks. Thought my tongue was gonna call off the next days. All worth it and yes I'd do it again..lol.


Glad to hear i wasn't the only one that's done this. I never heard of it before so I was a little nervous wondering what the hell i did to my body.


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## Chad Vegas (Sep 29, 2015)

I would blame it on the straight shot pipe smoke has into your mouth. It's more concentrated than when you are smoking sticks.


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## joejoe047 (Aug 15, 2017)

Cigars do cause tongue bite, I have it now.


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